ABSTRACTThe purpose of this thesis has been to increase the knowledge about the life situation for next of kin who are caring for the elderly and mentally disabled. Also, the impact of ?supportive actions? on the quality of life for the next of kin has been assessed. This study tried to answer the following questions:? How do next of kin perceive their every day life.? Do supportive actions lead to a better situation in your every day life.? Do supportive actions raise the quality of life for next of kinTo answer the questions above a qualitative method was used.

Background: Each year approximately 30 000 people suffer from stroke in Sweden, often with substantial mental and physical consequences. Those who suffered from stroke handled the situation by mourning what they had lost and by accepting their changed body and life situation. For those who provide care for people who has suffered a stroke help and support was required. The caring science perspective was based upon caring and suffering. Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe family caregivers? experiences of caring for persons who had suffered a stroke.

Caring for the suffering, dying patients and giving support to relatives is probably one of the toughest jobs a nurse can encounter. Palliative caring is, with different measures, the prolonging of life whereas hospice caring is giving patients a meaningful and natural journey toward death. The hospice philosophy is grounded on comfort, communication and peace. The expectation is that patients will have a dignified, peaceful death. The purpose of this study was to describe the nurse's role in palliative care.

The progress of chronic disorders such as heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects various aspects of life. They have an deep impact on patients´experience of health and wellbeing and their functional qualities and quality of life. Several studies have in an extensive way described heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in its own domain but few qualitative studies consider coexistence of the disorders from a caring science perspective. The aim was to describe the meaning of living with heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from a lifeworld perspective. With a phenomenological and reflecting lifeworld approach it´s possible to describe eight patients daily experiences of living with severe and chronic disorders from their own narratives.

Forensic psychiatric care is a complex business. Patients who are cared for in forensic psychiatry are usually in need of care for a long time. The forensic care is a major intrusion into a person's life and the nurses and caregivers are the people who spend the most time with patients. They have a difficult mission providing a good and personalized care while patients are deprived of their liberty. Previous research demonstrates that patients experience forensic care as uncertain, insecure and punitive but that there are also glimpses of "good care".

The aim of this study was to increase the knowledge about if and how the National Value System?s goal of a life with dignity for the elderly pervades the work in home care organisations. The study was based on a qualitative research method and was conducted through interviews with professional care givers in home care organisations, there were five individual interviews and one pair interview. The background for this study was the National Value System for the eldercare that was introduced in 2011. The theory of New Public Management and the concept of Rationality of Caring were used to analyse the result.

Background:Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a complex clinical condition. The higher survival rate after heart attack and other heart diseases, plus aging population, has led to more CHF patients. Symptoms can have negative impact on exercise capacity, ability to perform activities of daily living and quality of life. Heart failure clinics have been established to help better quality of life. Helping to stabilize and maintain patients´ health can reduce the need of hospital admission.

Background:Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a complex clinical condition. The higher survival rate after heart attack and other heart diseases, plus aging population, has led to more CHF patients. Symptoms can have negative impact on exercise capacity, ability to perform activities of daily living and quality of life. Heart failure clinics have been established to help better quality of life. Helping to stabilize and maintain patients´ health can reduce the need of hospital admission.

AbstractThe aim with the study was to describe and to compare nurse students' views about importantcaring behaviors in order to give good caring. An empirical comparative study wasimplemented on a college in the middle of Sweden. Nurse students in the beginning and at theend of their education sorted and prioritized 50 caring behaviors (CARE-Q). The result showedthat the students' description of important caring behaviors has many similarities. However, theresult also showed that there were significant differences between the student-groups where thestudents at the beginning of their education rated several caring behavior as significant moreimportant than the students in the end of their education.

AbstractBackground: Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and accounted for 7.6 million deaths, about 13% of all deaths, in 2008. Several factors can affect patients' quality of life such as physical and psychological symptoms, relationship to people around and the environment. In palliative care professionals need to have good knowledge in order to improve patient quality of life and to give them as good a life as possible in the final stages of life.Aim: The purpose of this overview study is to describe the experiences of quality of life in patients with incurable cancer.Method: We conducted an overview study that was based on ten scientific articles. All articles are qualitative studies, from the year 1995 - 2011, and are from Sweden, Finland, UK, Canada and the USA. Qualitative analysis was used to group the various themes and subthemes for overview study purpose.

Background: Each year, over one million people around the world die as a result of suicide. About 1500 of those are in Sweden. In each case an estimated six kindred?s are to be affected. These people are in great need of support.

In the New Testament different pictures of a Christian woman are presented, not only thepicture of someone who is nursing and caring, but also the picture of someone who is learningand being educated.Women are put into systems of gender which form them, and throughout the years the pictureof women has been that they primarily should be caring and nursing, not learning.Both of these pictures exist within the Swedish Missionary Society, a society that has not hadany constitution to comply with until 1964, which meant that each person could make his owninterpretation of the Bible and its texts.This essay examines how fifty-year-old women are pictured within the Swedish MissionarySociety 1945-1970, assuming that women who want to serve Jesus have to be prepared togive up their traditional role of nursing and caring, and focus on learning instead.The research method is qualitative, and the written sources are from a regional Christianweekly publication. The essay does not present an unambiguous picture of fifty-year-oldnonconformist women, but the results show that they are not being related to children, that themajority has a higher education than elementary school, and that many of them are addressedto as ?Mrs?..

BackgroundWhen women have breast pain this usually is not associated with myocardial infarction, which results in that they get less attention and wrong treatment. The nurse has an important role in informing and educating patients and families during hospitalization, which is usually short. Continuous training, written information and repetition for patient and family throughout the hospital stay are of considerable importance to clarify that the patient understands and to reduce the anxiety of being discharged.AimThe aim is to describe nurses' experiences of caring for older women with myocardial infarction.MethodsA qualitative method was used. The collection of data was done by six interviews with nurses in geriatric care and elderly care. Dataset has been processed based on a content analysis and divided into subcategories and main categories using meaningful units.ResultsNot having knowledge of older women with myocardial infarction was expressed as frustrating and nurses described how they were afraid to ask their colleagues.

Background: There are many people waiting for a kidney transplant. To get a kidney from a living donor has many advantages. The gift is about giving and receiving. The decision is characterized by life-philosophy of the donor.Aim: To highlight the experiences of the kidney donation process.Methods: A systematic literature review in which 11 articles were included, seven qualitative and four quantitative. The articles are quality and ethically reviewed, the results are analyzed according Granskär & Höglund and Polit & Beck.Results: The results were gathered under two themes: the decision-process shows the path from idea to decision and implementation-process treats the donation and confirmation of the gift.

Background: Palliative care is a type of care, which does not cure but eases the suffering caused by the disease. The goal of palliative care is not to extend or shorten the patient's life, but to relieve pain and distressing symptoms and to promote the patients? quality of life (QOL). QOL can be understood as a subjective sense of happiness of existence, which means that the patient is experiencing life when her total life situation is consistent with her ??wishes.